Hamas: Its Emergen ce, Structure and Ideology

Abstract

This article is scholarly adopted analytically and deducted in descriptive methodology. The objectives are 1) to study the emergence of Hamas, 2) to study the structure of Hamas and, 3) to investigate Hamas’s ideology. It also tries to explain the ideological shift of Hamas which has been evolving so far.

The study found that: 1) Hamas is a movement evolved from the Movement of Ikhwan al-Muslimeen. Both have strong mass bases. They have certain objectives and played a crucial role in campaigning against Israel and claiming the occupied Palestinian territories by Israelis. By comparison, Hamas’s anti-State of Israel stance is ideologically and practically more violent since its beginning. 2) Structurally, since Hamas has had long experiences in organizing and fighting against Israel, it has rather complete semi-state mechanisms such as executive, political, economic, information, foreign, and military affairs. On the other hands, it also runs a militant unit of Izzaddin Qassam, Intelligence cell, and Commandos, each with different duties but similar goals, namely liberating all the occupied territories and reinstituting the Islamic way of life in Palestine. In 2006 Palestinian general election, Hamas could win both in West Bank and Gaza Strip areas, thus, forming the coalition government (Palestinian National Authority=PNA). Despite the serious internal conflict that destabilized and divided the shared Governing bodies,  Hamas could set up their own Palestinian governing entity in Gaza. This recent political development has led to the better, more complex and more potential changes in the Movement’s structure and ideology. And 3) Ideologically, indeed Hamas is not hostile to the Jews due of religion, but because Hamas believed that Israeli Forces have usurped and occupied the Palestinian and Islamic land in Palestine, therefore, any recognition of Israel is considered as betraying Islam. Hamas has also adopted Jihad in fighting against Zionists and Israel.